Jef Mertens – A Pollock Of Sound. The Only Documentary On Borbetomagus (film screening), B 2016, 63 min
A Pollock Of Sound is the first-ever full feature documentary film on the legendary group Borbetomagus. With a current career spanning of 37 years, and still going, this explains a lot.
From 1979 on, Borbetomagus have persevered a ‘no holds barred’ musical style, described and boxed by the media so many times that they remain uncategorized. Coming together in upstate NY, far away from the burgeoning NYC scene, they began having a cult status reaching as far as Northeast Asia. With both saxophone players extending techniques beyond recognition and a guitar player utilizing metal shards besides a plectrum, the band have showcased a whole new vocabulary staying true to the word ‘free’. Guerilla filmmaker Jef Mertens brings the story previously only written in select underground media, as told by band members Don Dietrich, Donald Miller and Jim Sauter. Made on a low budget string and with the help of many artists, writers, photographers and fellow filmmakers, the film exhibits a raw, urgent and unpolished vision on a band that has spent almost four decades defining and redefining their music. Starring writer Byron Coley, drummer Chris Corsano, guitarist Thurston Moore, Japanese noise outfit Hijokaidan, Switserlands Voice Crack and a pontificating intro by Jason Gross. With never before seen archival footage, amazing photographic finds and even some never before released recordings, the film is a must-see, or must-listen if you will, for every Borbetomagus fan or lover of music that has labored its own definition of what sound should be like. Borbetomagus’ devastating attitude gained recognition without compromise and it’s without those compromises that ‘A Pollock of sound’ hopes to be striding along.http://www.apollockofsound.com

Antje Vowinckel: Forty winks for organ and thingsAntje Vowinckel is an internationally awarded radio artist, sound artist and performer based in Berlin. Her focus lies in musical compositions with language, for example with language courses, automatic speaking or dialect melodies. Furthermore she composes musical performances like Forty winks for organ and things – for korg cx-3 organ, slit drum, vibrating speaker and amplified objects. For the performance Vowinckel uses the knob- and slider-surface of the keyboard for untypical instrumental sounds rather than the keys. Vibrato simulations in presets correspond with the natural vibrato resulting from combining deep frequencies.

PareiDoliΛPareiDoliΛ is the duo of Marta Zapparoli and Liz Allbee, investigating the extremes of presence and absence - both in making perceivable the sonic phenomenon that usually lies beyond the human threshold of perception, and in reconfiguring the embodiment of instrument and performer in space. Marta Zapparoli: Exploring, discovering and listening below the surface of the audible to other possibilities of what can exist in the space. Focusing on the inaudible spectral site of the location where we are now - not to dream or be elsewhere, but to understand that here and now happens as a sonic reality which is constantly mutable. Catching these frequencies using tools and devices like detectors, antennas, sensors and more, and developing these signals into a vortex of information in real time, with the use of reel to reel tape machines. Stimulating our senses from other sonic realities, which constantly cross our bodies, interrupting our balance. Developing and recognizing different ways of perceiving and listening beneath the audible. Liz Allbee: Using quadraphonic trumpet to throw the sound, breath and voice around the room. Disassembling and reassembling presence - expanding and miniaturizing space. Dancing.

Kaufmann/Parkins/Schick
The first meeting of these three highly unique and internationally renowned instrumentalist/composer/sonic artists fuses three already existing duos - Kaufmann/Parkins, Parkins/Schick, and Kaufmann Schick - into a promising and adventurous electro-acoustic trio. Achim Kaufmann performs on piano (inside and outside), Andrea Parkins’ instruments include electronically-processed accordion, amplified objects and electronics, and Ignaz Schick plays turntables and live electronics. The group unites musicians of wide sonic experience and history, with individual musical explorations ranging from new jazz, free improvisation and avant rock to electroacoustic music, noise, and sound art. Their respective approaches are strongly informed by the influence of scenes in Amsterdam/Cologne, New York and Berlin, with the latter city as current home base for all three. Expect an evening of delicate, deliberate and carefully honed music based on a vast and refreshing reservoir of tonality and atmosphere, derived from both acoustic and electronic materials.